This year, the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association’s National Wireless Safety Week aptly fell in the midst of heated congressional disputes regarding risks cellular phone use poses to drivers and potential harm created by cell-phone radiation.
But rather than focus on the harm wireless devices might cause, CTIA used last week to acknowledge the benefits of mobile communication. According to the trade association, more than 140,000 emergency calls are made each day from wireless phones, amounting to almost 100 calls per minute. “Wireless safety is more than dialing 911; it has mobilized communities to look for ways to curb crime and protect citizens,” said Tom Wheeler, CTIA’s president. “Wireless 911 is the most effective crime intervention and reporting tool, short of armed police, on the streets today.”
To mark the week of safety awareness, CTIA honored wireless users from each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, who have prevented tragedy with the help of their wireless devices. The stories of the 2001 Vita Wireless Samaritan Award Winners recount acts of heroism in the face of dangerous, sometimes potentially fatal situations, including car accidents, medical problems, kidnapping and even domestic violence.
Last week, CTIA designated a specific theme of wireless safety to each day and profiled winners that demonstrated these themes. Crime prevention, for example, was demonstrated by Florida’s Joseph Egan, who alerted police a man had been shot in an armed robbery after another man, who could only speak Spanish, informed him of the emergency. Five-year-old Brandon Pope from Illinois was profiled on personal protection day for alerting emergency personnel when his mother suffered a seizure that resulted from years of abuse. Driver safety, impaired driver prevention, disaster relief and school safety were other themes covered during the week.
Wireless phones were not the only wireless technologies to earn Vita winners their titles.
For example, in North Carolina, Jim Shlater called his wife on his wireless phone after he was forced into a trunk by two kidnappers. Fearing the men could hear him, Shlater communicated with his wife via the Nextel Direct Connect two-way-radio feature on his phone, which allowed him to correspond via the touch of a button rather than by voice. His wife then contacted 911 and operators helped Jim locate the lock release and free himself. Jim was rescued and the kidnappers were later apprehended.
In New Jersey, Rev. R. David Keith used the OnStar technology in his car to save a woman he saw struggling to escape from a van driving in front of him. OnStar personnel tracked the location of his car as he trailed the van. The woman was rescued and a man was apprehended for kidnapping within five minutes of Keith’s OnStar call.
Also, several of the winners owe their heroic actions in part to the forethought of organizations or individuals that provided or required the wireless devices as a measure of safety.
For example, as a participant in People Against Violent Environments (PAVE), a domestic abuse help center, Brandon Pope’s mother Sandra was provided the emergency wireless phone he used to save her through the Wireless Foundation’s Call to Protect program.
Bart Thomas and Jim Wells were changing the sign face atop a 35-foot billboard when a strong wind caused Thomas to fall and left Wells trapped on top of the billboard. The men were able to get to the wireless phone, which Thomas had required in all company vehicles, to summon help.
The 52 winners of the 2001 CTIA Vita awards will be officially honored at the 2001 Achievement Awards Dinner on June 5 at the National Building Museum in Washington.
